Tuesday, September 30, 2014

in Astapovo,Russia. He is considered to be one of thegreatests literary figures in the history of Russia, havingwritten works such as War and Peace, Anna Karenina,The Death of Ivan Ilyich, The Three Hermits, and among

many others, the play The Power of Darkness. He was a

very prolific author.

In the blog Logismoi we read a fascinating story on

the last days of Leo Tolstoy; Fr Aaron Taylor writes,

"According to Stanton, Tolstoy had been to Optina at

least four other times, beginning in 1877, and had

visited Elder Ambrose on three of those occasions.

The latter said very little about their final conversation

(in 1890), but told Constantine Leontiev:

‘When Tolstoy came into my cell, I blessed him, and he kissed my hand. But when he came to leave, in order to avoid a blessing, he kissed me on the cheek.’ When he was saying this, the elder was barely breathing—he was so worn out from his conversationwith the Count. ‘He is very proud,’ added Father Amvrosii. [1]

Thursday, September 25, 2014

“The Merciful Lord loves His own servants and gives them sorrows on earth, so that the soul would through sorrows learn humility and dedication to God’s will and find peace in the pain, as the Lord said: Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, and you will find rest unto your souls.” This is what St. Silouan of Mt. Athos wrote in one of his letters—and he was a saint who truly knew by his own experience the color of pain."

"From 1576 to 1581 Patriarch Jeremiah II of Constantinople conducted the first important theological exchanges between Orthodoxy and Protestants. On 24 May 1575,Lutherans Jakob Andreae and Martin Crusius from Tübingen presented the Patriarch with a translated copy of the Augsburg Confession. Jeremias II wrote three rebuttals known as 'Answers,' which established that the Orthodox Church had no desire (or need) for reformation" Source

Excerpts from Patriarch Jeremiah II letters to the Tubingen theologians (Lutherans), can be read here

To read the full text and historical background of the correspondence between the Patriarch and the Lutherans please read Augsburg and Constantinople, The Correspondence between the Tübingen Theologians and Patriarch Jeremiah II of Constantinople on the Augsburg Confession, by Fr. George Mastrantonis, Brookline, MA, Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 1982

ISBN 0-916586-81-2

ISBN 0-916586-82-0"Augsburg and Constantinople" can be purchased atAmazonPatriarch Jeremiah II ended the correspondence with these words, "Therefore, we request that from henceforth you do not cause us more grief, nor write to us on the same subject if you should wish to treat these luminaries and theologians of the Church in a different manner. You honor and exalt them in words, but you reject them in deeds."from Augsburg and Constantinople p.306Therefore the protestant reformation was a brave but ultimately failed and misguided attempt, to bring restoration to a church already in schism (the Roman Catholic Papacy which severed itself from the other four Orthodox Patriarchates in 1054). It failed because it did not succeed in restoring the papacy to the New Testament Apostolic Church, which is indeed the Orthodox Church. Instead it created thousands of conflicting denominations and even more new ones being formed every year. As the saying goes, "It is not possible to reinvent the wheel". The Church, the Body of Christ, has been, and is, and will be, in unbroken continuity from the beginning until our Lord returns.

The Lutherans rejected the authority of the ages in the Orthodox Church. While seeking to legitimatize their movement by their futile attempt to receive the endorsement of the Church of Constantinople, the Lutherans refused to acknowledge that the Church is One and visible. They have churches but do not believe in THE Church, as confessed in the Nicene creed. They rejected the words of the very same Fathers who gave us the Nicene Creed, the doctrines of the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Holy Spirit, the very foundations on which the Orthodox Christian Church stands and remains intact to this day. The Orthodox Church is the One Holy Catholic (which means both Whole and Universal) and Apostolic Church. She alone is the New Testament Church, the Body of Christ.

In the Orthodox blog, Orthodox-Reformed Bridge we read an interesting

article concerning some misconceptions expressed by some Reformed

theologians on the Orthodox Church and its teachings,

"Ligonier Ministries on Eastern Orthodoxy

After years of obscurity on the American religious landscape, Eastern Orthodoxy is beginning to catch the attention of Evangelical leaders. In 2004, Ligonier Ministries sponsored a national conference “A Portrait of God” which featured: J. Ligon Duncan III, R.C. Sproul and John MacArthur. At one of the Q&A sessions, the moderator noted that he had received several questions about Eastern Orthodoxy.

It is unfortunate that these well known Reformed theologians made erroneous statements about Eastern Orthodoxy." For the full article please go here

pride in ourselves and disdaining the man? Virtue is not a virtue when it is mixed with sin, just as milk is not milk when it is mixed with gasoline or vinegar." St Nikolai Velimirovich in The Prologue from Ochrid

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Icon of Christ carrying His Cross in the Church of Panagia Dexia, Thessaloniki, Greece

by Subdeacon Steve Robinson

"Subdeacon Steve Robinson uses chairs to illustrate the difference between penal-substitutionary atonement (PSA) and the Eastern Orthodox understanding of Christ's work on the cross.PSA comes from a medieval thinker named Anselm of Canterbury (AD 1033-1109) and is the most widely accepted understanding among Catholics and Protestants of why Christ had to die. By contrast, in Eastern Orthodox Church thought, Christ's death is neither penal, nor is it substitutionary, nor is it even rightly called atonement.

That Christ's death is not penal is seen in Jn 3:16-17: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."

That Christ's death is not substitutionary is seen in Ez 18:20: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." So much for vicarious atonement and the related heresy of positional righteousness!

That Christ's death is not rightly called atonement is a mere case of semantic sleight of hand. "Atonement" means reparation for a wrong or an injury. If Christ's death is an "atonement," then it follows by definition that Christ is dying to make reparation for some wrong. But why should we allow the Anselm's followers to put the label "atonement" on Christ's death when the far more ancient term for it was "redemption"? To "redeem" is to rescue something from a state of sinfulness or its consequences. Thus, if we call Christ's death a redemption instead of an atonement, then PSA follows not at all." from the YouTube website

We Shall See Him As He Is by Archimandrite Sophrony Sakharov, ISBN 0-9512786-4-9

Wisdom. Let Us Attend: Job, The Fathers, and The Old Testament by Johanna Manley, ISBN: 0-9622536-4-2

Words of Life by Archimandrite Sophrony, Trans. by Sister Magdalen, ISBN1-874679-11-8

Writings from The Philokalia On Prayer of The Heart, Trans. by E. Kadloubovsky and G.E.H. Palmer, ISBN: 0-571-16393-9

This is a journal of my experience as

an Orthodox Christian with an

emphasis on my inner struggle, in

particular; the search for the 'heart'

and its purification, which is the way

to God and to our participation in

His Uncreated Energy.It includes photos and stories of my

travels to Greece, Serbia, Israel and

England.

An Orthodox Pilgrim

"Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it" Matthew 7:14

“Bear in mind that for cleansing your heart from sins you will obtain an infinite reward- you will see God, your most gracious creator, your providence. The work of cleansing the heart is difficult, because it is connected with great privations and afflictions; and therefore, the reward is great. ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God’Matt. 5:8 St John of Kronstadt

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'The soul that has known the Lord

wants to see Him within her at all

times, for the Lord enters the soul

in quietness and gives her peace,

and bears silent witness to

salvation" St Silouan of Athos

"At the edge of your heart the Lord is standing with a tall candle that burns without smoking or melting. The Lord is standing and waiting at your invitation, to bring the candle into your heart and enlighten it, to burn up all the fear in your heart, all its selfish passions and all its ugly desires, and to drive out of your heart all the smoke and foul stench. At the edge of your mind the Lord is standing with His wisdom and with His Word, ready, at your invitation, to enter into it and drive out all its foolish thoughts, all its filthy fancies, and all its mistaken notions, and to erase from your mind all nonexistent images — the Lord is standing and waiting to introduce His reason, His seals, and His words." St Nikolai Velimirovich in Prayers by the Lake LXXIX

A Prayer by St Dimitri of Rostov

Open, O doors and bolts of my heart that Christ the King of Glory may enter!Enter, O my Light and enlighten my darkness;enter, O my Life, and resurrect my deadness;enter, O my Physician and heal my wounds;enter, O Divine Fire, and burn up the thorns of my sins;ignite my inward parts and my heart with the flame of Thy love;enter, O my King, and destroy in me the kingdom of sin;sit on the throne of my heart and alone reign in me,O Thou, my King and Lord.

The Heart is the Battlefield of Our Salvation

What is the heart?, "Thus, asthe bodily heart is the centerof the body's life, the spiritualheart is the center of ourspiritual life",Fr Spyridon Logothetis

Where is the heart? "The heartis within our chest. When wespeak of the heart, we speak ofour spiritual heart which coinci-des with the fleshly one; butwhen man receives illuminationand sanctification, then hiswhole being becomes a heart".Fr Zacharias Zacharou

"(God) is the One who hasfashioned the heart of every manin an unique and unrepeatable way"Fr Zacharias Zacharou.

"It is astonishingly great that Godthe Father, poured from His Spirita noetic sensation (noera aesthisis)or breath to the bodily hearts ofthose who rightly believed in theincarnate Logos". St Kallistos

A heart that has been made aliveby the waters of holy baptism andregeneration of the Holy Spirit hasthe kingdom of God within, "thekingdom of God is within you".Luke 17:21

"Since the kingdom of God is withinus, the heart is the battlefield ofour salvation, and all ascetic effortis aimed at cleansing it of allfilthiness, and preserving it purebefore the Lord". Fr Zacharias

The darkness and desolation of aheart ravished by sin is indeedapalling. In a heart that has notbeen purified, "there aredragons and there are lions;there are poisonous beasts andall the treasures of evil".St Macarius

"For it is within you, that is, itdepends upon your own wills, andit is in your own power, whetheror not you receive it. For everyman who has attained tojustification by means of faith inChrist, and is adorned by allvirtue, is counted worthy of thekingdom of heaven".St Cyril of Alexandria

And with the kingdom we receiveall the treasures of Grace. "Butthere is also God, also the angels,the life and the kingdom, the lightand the apostles, the treasures ofGrace -there are all things".St Macarius

Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.Lead me in the path of yourcommandments, for I delight in it.Turn my heart to your decrees, andnot to selfish gain.Turn my eyes from looking at vanities; give me life in your ways.Psalm 119:34-37

Prayer of Archimandrite Sophrony of Essex

"Oh Lord, I am weak. Thou knowest

this. In fear I seek the way to Thee.

Despise me not. Forsake me not in

my fall. Draw near even unto me,

who am of no account, yet I thirst

after Thee. Take up Thine abode

in me and do Thou Thyself perform

in me all that Thou hast

commanded of us. Make me Thine

for ever and ever, in love

unshakeable."

Recommended Reading List is at the bottom of the posts.

About Me

I am a lay Orthodox Christian.
Education: B.Sc. Biology and Chemistry, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, P.R.; The George Washington University, Medical Technology, Associate member of the American Society for Clinical Pathology